“I eat cupcakes and I don’t work out! But if you ask me in 10 years, I’m going to regret answering that way now. I don’t even drink water, I’m terrible! I’m 24 now, so I guess I’ve been very, very lucky that it doesn’t show that I like to eat. I should probably start working out I guess…”
It all started with this quote from Gossip Girl actress Blake Lively. After I stifled my feelings of insane jealousy – yes, Ms. Lively you are blessed indeed! – I had to give her props for at least realizing that she might possibly someday regret the way she treats her body now. Because for all of us this side of 20 (or 30 or 40), there is at least one thing that we look back on and regret doing in regards to our health. For myself, it mainly centers around not wearing sunscreen until I was in my early 20’s and both my parents got skin cancer.
So, for a recent assignment for Shape.com I got to collect health regrets from various celebs, bloggers and people who are neither celebrities nor bloggers but who are still all of the awesome.
Some surprised me: Tori Spelling regrets her boob job — not because they look horrible on her teeny tiny frame but because the implants got in the way of breastfeeding. (Can I just say that I really disliked Tori during her whole 90210 years but now that she’s a mom I kinda adore her?) Brooke Shields was overweight as a kid (really?!) AND my Facebook (and blog) friend Colleen posed with an iguana on her bare back without screaming, fainting or trying to whack it with a chair by awkwardly swinging it over her head and possibly concussing herself. You know, like I would have done. (Even more surprising, her health regret had nothing to do with contracting salmonella from reptiles…)
Others made me sad: Singer Cheryl Cole said of herself after a night of binge drinking, “I walked past the mirror and caught a glimpse of someone. I had no idea who she is.” And my blog friend Leah of Adjusted Reality confessed “I thought I was too ‘old’ in my 20’s to be active, that it would be too ‘hard’ to be healthy, and that I was meant to be fat and sedentary.” (Although Leah turned that one around to the tune of 100+ pounds gone!)
And still others made me giggle: Kymberly of Fun and Fit only has fashion regrets, “I wore those double leg warmers and bandanas with pride and color coordination, don’t you know! But did I get pics? And do I have record of my full-body leotards and long tights with feet in them? I think not.” And Gym Buddy Megan’s mom even contributed, saying, “[I didn’t] take care of my beautiful skin when I was younger. I took it for granted, soaked up more sun than I should have. I hope my daughter, Megan, reads this and remembers to cleanse and moisturize!” (She did and does, Mama Gym Buddy!)
But while the slideshow covered the biggies, I didn’t get to put on some of my personal – read: quirky – health regrets. Here are my top 5:
1. Q-Tips in ears. Eargasm! Heaven help I can’t stop myself. Even though I once had to get embedded wax suctioned off my eardrum with a very loud thingy at the doctor’s office and it hurt way more than you’d think. Ear drums DO have nerve endings!
2. Using my fingers and toilet paper to remove makeup. (When I bothered to remove it at all.) All that old advice about being gentle removing your makeup? Hogwash, I thought in high school. I have great skin and no wrinkles because I’m amazing and I’m going to not-age just like Jane Seymour I’m 15.
3. Not realizing that putting my bike shorts on top of my leo in gymnastics didn’t hide the cameltoe any better. Also not realizing that putting my bike shorts under babydoll dresses a la Claire Danes in My So-Called Life didn’t make the dresses any more flattering. (Ah sack dresses. So comfy yet so bloaty.) Ok, how about just all bike shorts while not actually on a bike?
4. All those years eating fake health food. Yes I was the Snackwell’s queen but I’m also including the vegetarian staple seitan and all the lemon wedges I gnawed on (healthy, yes, but soooo bad for my enamel).
5. All that time lost on cardio equipment. Treadmills, stair climbers, bikes, moving sidewalks at the airport – so many ways to go… nowhere. Don’t get me wrong, I still use them sometimes (when I have no other options) but it still bums me out to run all those miles and then end up exactly where I started. At the very least I should have been a bike messenger. (Nevermind, scratch that last one – moving sidewalks are just crazy fun.)
Do you have something you wish you could go back and tell your younger self not to do? Do you regret your q-tip love or treadmill time?
I have to say that my biggest regret is not moving more as a kid, or even joining a sport. Maybe I wouldn’t be dealing with my health issues now.
However, I have the Q-tip addiction too! I feel for you!
Yes, a lot of people echoed your regret in my interviews. Another good reason why we need more (great) PE teachers! And yay for q-tip addicts:)
I regret thinking people with weight problems were lazy and lacking self control. I gained enormous amounts of weight with my four pregnancies in my twenties and lost it. If I could do it without problems, so could other women. ….
I turned thirty, three pregnancies and health issues taught me a big lesson.
Oooh I love this one!!! Mostly because I think your first part is such a commonly held belief, even by those in the medical community. And yes, turning 30 has given me a “there but for the grace of God go I” attitude as well…
I regret thinking that I was extremely fat in my college and school years when i was actually under weight and 30 pounds lighter than i am now, looking at pictures now i realize i actually had a rocking body, and i regret breaking it down(mentally) and trying to change it when i didn’t need to
YES. This: ” i realize i actually had a rocking body, and i regret breaking it down(mentally) and trying to change it when i didn’t need to” Me too, honey, me too.
Mine is having an ED. Starving myself to be beautiful! Since when is anorexia beautiful. And eating heaps of “diet food”, possibly not even food.
I agree – I lost so much to my EDs. Gained a lot of experience, yes, but when I really think about it, it makes me so sad what I put my body through.
I think mine is not making enough time to prepare and eat proper food for a long time – I just decided I didn’t have time for it, but there’s nothing more important than looking after yourself! – Susie
I love this one too! So many people think they “don’t have time” to eat healthfully but in the end it saves you time, and much more.
I’ve recently discovered mine! Not taking care of my teeth! And in all fairness, I’m catching up with it before any actual tooth damage and I’ve never had a cavity (I’ve got some good mouth genetics working in my favor, apparently)- but even though I brushed twice a day and flossed daily, I didn’t go to the dentist for 8 years until this summer. (I have a legitimate phobia, to be fair.) But cleanings are SO painful if your gums are in bad shape. I’d have saved myself so much trouble if I’d just gone to the dentist regularly. Plus, gum health is really important in terms of heart and reproductive health.
So don’t be gross like me- go to the dentist!
Oooh no one has said this one yet – love it! Dentists are so important and yet I think we really overlook oral health. Thanks for the reminder!
Love this! I would go back and tell my frehsman and sophomore in college self to stop eating copious amounts of Taco Bell…especially after 10 pm.
Buwhahah – yeah their whole “4th meal” thing didn’t do any of us any favors!
My biggest regret? Not believing people who complimented me.
If someone believes that I am pretty, beautiful, have stunning eyes, have great hair, etc, why do I feel the need to argue with them and tell them they are wrong?
Next biggest regret? Not taking care of myself. Yes, it has been an exciting journey losing 70+ pounds, and I have learned a lot about myself, but why get to a point where this became necessary?
Amy, this is a lovely post. I agree, we should all accept – and believe – compliments more willingly! And pay them to ourselves! I wish more people would treat themselves with the loving kindness and uplifting words/support that they give to others.
Congratulations on your wonderful progress. I truly believe that every part of each of our journey’s is valuable (I’m not really one for regrets, myself), and I’m so happy that you are taking great care of yourself now!
Ack, I’m a writer and copy editor and I could have used my own keen eye before I hit post on this one. Red pen to that apostrophe in “journey’s”!
Aw I love this one!! I don’t know why so many of us feel like we need to self-deprecate all the time…
I regret not finding a major physical activity I liked as a kid. I still don’t like most sports to this day because they involve lots of running, but in the end I really like weightlifting. I think if I’d discovered free weights in high school, I’d be seriously awesome by now. Also, specifically, I wish I’d joined the local water skiing show team before my senior year of high school, because I love water skiing like most chicks love chocolate, and I could have been really awesome at it. Now I live in a city and I don’t have a car and the local river is disgusting and polluted, so I really have nowhere to ski.
(shhh)… sitting cross-legged or on my left leg all the time.
Totally changed the way the muscles in hip worked and likely contributed to the hip replacement. Yes, I had 50 years of incredible comfort sitting that way, but was it worth it?
This one is SO interesting to me. My trainer has been trying to drill the never-cross-your-legs thing into my head but it’s so hard to sit wearing a shorter skirt without crossing! Thanks for the reminder about why I need to keep working on it…
I, too, am really trying to break this habit. Alas, it’s so automatic that I find myself crossing and uncrossing my legs constantly all day!
Yeah, I regret all those years of denying my brain enough calories to function. I know I went on vacations and did some cool things during that time but it’s all a blur now. I really wish I remembered that time better. It even includes when I met my fiance.
BUT, I refuse to feel guilty about my Q-tip habit. My ears itch if I don’t use them! What’s a girl to do? And not sure what’s wrong with seitan? But then I eat it because it tastes good and I want to, not because it’s health food. I do regret the low-fat ice cream “health food”. I missed out on real deliciousness for so long! I don’t know if I would say I regret all the time on the elliptical but I do get annoyed when I get stuck with that as my workout.
“I regret all those years of denying my brain enough calories to function.” Yes. This. And also how so many of fun-vacay memories revolve around what I did eat (and punished myself for) or what I didn’t eat (and still regret).
I would LOVE to go back in time rip the store bought hair-frying bleach away from myself. Thanks younger self, I adore hair with the consistency of STRAW.
Ummm, am I the only one who isn’t aware that Q-Tips are bad for your ears…?
I deeply regret the anorexia years (started when I was 13 and ended when I was 18). I had a great metabolism but ruined it eating only sugar free gum and water. After I “fixed” my anorexia and started eating again, I changed the addiction of controlling everything that I ate, to eating everything. That, plus whacking my metabolism = me fat. Well, now I’m working on it again, hoping this time I do better.
I wish I had not injured my back bears ago , but the big regret is that I decided to feel sorry for myself and lie on the couch and eat for a year. When I got off that couch I weighed an extra 150Lbs and I hurt worse than when I started. Most of that weight is gone now but there are lasting effects and it was hard work.
I regret not finding a sport I loved when I was a kid. Now, I LOVE to run, and I wish I’d discovered this earlier in life when I could have done cross-country or track, had coaches to work with, and made friends with the same interests.
Mostly, though, I am thankful for my past. Even though I ate horribly in high school and was a little overweight, without that experience I wouldn’t have the motivation to be as healthy as I am today. Now, I am way more appreciative of how good my body feels when I take care of it.
I had one experience similar to your #3 but with a pair of compression shorts. I’ll stop there.
My biggest regret harks back to when I first became a trainer and a 200 kilogram (440 pound) friend, who was like an older brother to me, asked me for my help. I attempted to push him a few mornings but ended up throwing any further attempts in the ‘too hard basket’. I reasoned that he needed to get more motivated himself first and then come and see me. I still believe in that ethos but as a friend I should have pushed a little harder. Then he may not have a died a year and a half later of heart complications.
The upside is that his memory has motivated me to becoming a great trainer.
I wore my leos way past when I should have – I have told you this before but OMG, what was I thinking! 😉
I dodged quite a few bullets, like how I was tempted with shirts that showed off the lower half of my abs. Luckily my sister let me know how silly I would look (thanks sis!)
I do regret the obsessive cardio though. So much wasted time!
I regret that the first time I got serious and started exercising I let it all go in a fit of depression. Now I’d give anything for those “fat thighs” that were really muscular quads that popped when I walked. Sigh.
Pingback:Off again | Happy is the new healthy
I regret the years I spent trapped in Bulimia but I’m now trying to mentor other young girls with ED’s so that’s a positive outcome I guess….
I regret not pacing my weight loss and weight gain cycles well. Yes, I wish I didn’t yo-yo my way through adolescence and yong adulthood, but if I HAD TO lose weight and then gain it back, I should have done everything at a slow or moderate pace. I now have horrible stretch marks even though all my life I had to lose only 20 lbs. I still go through my weight loss periods full-speed ahead for two weeks and then put everything back on, and some more, the 3rd one. So yes, I guess my biggest regret is going to extremes.
Well I’m only 20 so I have plenty of time to make the change but I wish that I lived a little more and didn’t obsess about my health (weight in particular) so much.
I regret doing some too extreme forms of exercise when younger…. blowing out my knee, hurting my back and injuring my shoulder. Now the only exercise that doesn’t flair up my old injuries is walking….. and I’m a 28 year old guy, I should be in my prime!
Pingback:My Top 5 Reasons To Be Fit: What’s Yours? [Plus 7 foods that do weird things to your body] | The Great Fitness Experiment
Pingback:My Top 5 Reasons To Be Fit: What’s Yours? [Plus 7 foods that do weird things to your body] | Elite Daily Diet and Fitness
Wonderful things altogether, you recently gotten a new viewer. What exactly can you suggest when it comes to the submit for you to designed some days during the past? Any certain?